Higurashi Angel's wings
by The Layman
Summary: Nicholas Martinez's life is now a living hell. How did it happen? This is the story... Rated M for violence, paranoia, and some suggestives scenes. *DISCONTINUED*
1. Prologue character guide

Hi there, Layman speaking.

I had this idea one day that I think I should follow up on, but I wanted to see what all of you out there in fandom think of it. You ready?

A Maximum Ride parody of Higurashi; no Naku Koro ni.

I mean if you think about it, all the ground work is already layed to assimilate the characters from MR into the quaint little demon town of Hinamizawa.

Let me explain....

(For the record, some of my choices are based off of the Max Ride Manga, [which is a must read for anyone who likes both Maximum Ride and manga], and others are based off the books. FYI)

Max=Mion/Shion. If you think about it, this would really work out perfectly (Can anyone say Max II?). All you really have to do is give each of them different clothes and hairstyles and you would be set. Oh, and they have to act differently and have different interests.

Fang=Keiichi. Another shoe-in, seeing as how Fang most closely resembles the main portagonist of the afore mentioned Romance/Comedy/Horror series. His emo factor is going to be turned down a bit, but for the most part I still plan on making him the same old Fang.

Iggy=Tomitake. Hmm, how can he be a photographer and still be blind? Well, he can't, so he'll be able to see in this.

Nudge=Rena. If there are any die-hard Fax fans reading this, or if you're Keiichi/Rena, don't get the wrong idea. (I'll expain more in a minute.) As for the character, here's why; excitable, like cute things, somewhat clueless, among other things.

Angel=Rika. Does this one really need an explanation? Fine, I'll give you one; both cute, like to comfort others, and have things going on inside their heads that no one on earth can understand or even fathom.

Ella=Sakoto. Devious, not touched upon much in either series, I guess it could work.

Dr. Martinez=Mrs. Meabara. Because we need a motherly figure in here, that's why.

Jeb=Detective Ooishi. Is mostly a background character, can't easily figure out what his part in everything is, and because they're both the guys who you just love to hate.

Brigid Dwyer=That nurse that hang out with Tomitake all the time. Arm candy.

Gazzy=Satoshi. Starting to run out of paralels here. Let's just say that both he and Satoshi are older brother to one of the mains in their respective series. (Gazzy/Angel, Satoshi/Sakoto.) Other than that, he's the last of the mains that didn't have a roll yet.

As for the plot, it's going to follow the same general structure Higurashi; no Naku Koro ni-Onikakushi and Wantanagashi; begins in small, out of the way town, possible romance buds, discovers gruesome secret beneath quaint facade, friends become enemies, many gruesome deaths, and finally the conclusion that makes you stay awake for nights on end waiting for it to happen to you.

By the way, Fang, Iggy and Gazzy will be using the names Nick, Jeff and Zepher respectively.

So what do you think of all this? Well, there's a little button beneath this paragraph that will let you speak your mind, so use it liberally people! And if anyone wants to help write this, use said same button to drop a line. (If you don't have an account, send me a private message with your Email enclosed so I can respond).

The first chapter should be up soon, so keep your eyes pealed. (And by that, I mean put this story on alert, people!)


	2. Beginings

_Layman here, speaking to all the people out there (and everyone else who takes even a vague interest in my writing for that matter) I have finally decided to my Higurashi/Max Ride parody fic! Based loosely off of the Higurashi Onikakushi and Watanagashi manga arcs._

_Dislaimer; I own neither Maximum Ride (James Patterson) or Higurashi; no Naku Koro ni (Ryushiko07)._

_Son of Disclaimer; Although I normally try to keep my stories culturally relevant, (and sinse this is not taking place in an out-of-the-way town in Japanese hill country), any honorifics, titles, or names will be set to English standard. (This means English names for everyone, as well as English grammar and socially mannerisms.)_

_Disclaimers' Revenge; Upon further investigation, I have discovered that Fax fans will indeed get satisfaction out of this story! (KeiichiXMion/Shion. Read intro.) However, I'm sorry to say, Ren-ichi fans will still be left in the could. Sorry!_

_Anyways, the story starts with Nick.  
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_"There are so many wonderful things in this world to be afraid of, you just have to learn how scary they are..." a line from 'The Tale of Despereaux.  
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WHACK!

Again he brought the bat down on the corpses of his classmates, blind with abject terror. He couldn't belive they had done this; after all, they were his freinds.

"Were" being the key word.

WHACK! His bat met the bloodied head of Max, his classmate and one time possible girlfriend, crushing it against the floor in a mess of blood and grey matter. He still couldn't understand how all of this had happened in the first place. The worst part was, the further in he investigated, the less things had begun to make sense.

Especially now.

WHACK! This time the bat swept across face of Nudge, possibly taking her nose off. (He didn't really notice.) He just realized recently that she had a crush on him. He really should have noticed it; always meeting him to walk to school together, the she always tried to drag him away because she thought he was "cute", the way she blushed every time he went out of his way to be nice to her.

Only now her cheeks were stained red with viscous, shimmering blood. So was the rest of her face for that matter.

WHACK! He himself was no better, having, in his blind frenzy, been too busy worrying about his life to care whether or not his clothes got bloodstained. Come to think of it, how had HE sunk this low! Just two short weeks ago he never have even dreamed of hurting a fly; now here he was making the freaking Mafia look like God's Holy Angels.

He thought of Angel, the dead preacher's daughter. She was the quiet one, mostly standing in the background, content to be seen and not heard. She was also the most empathetic and caring person he had ever met, often patting him on the head after a prank or is she thought he needed comfort.

She was found dead two days ago on the floor of the town's little chapel, multiple stab wounds to the side of her head. The later autopsy revealed some sort of drug in her system; they still don't know what it was.

WHACK! Then there was Ella, Angel's best freind and instagator of more pranks against him than he bothered to count. She had disappeared a day or two before Angel's death. No trace of her was found.

He finally stopped, slumping to his knees in exaustion. His breathing was labored and heavy, and his limbs felt like they were about to fall off. As he looked around at the slaughterhouse before him, he noticed one other body in a corner, mutilated almost beyond recognition.

Maxine, Max's twin sister.

She had been the spitting image of her sister, their hair being the only means of identification, (Max was brown with blonde undertones, and Maxine was full blonde). For a while he'd mixed up the sisters, thinking they were the same person, but after seeing them together he'd realized his mistake. Max had been much more of a tomboy while Maxine was much more subdued and feminine.

Now they were both lying there; rotting, decaying.

The more he stared at the horror scene before him, the more he realized he had to tell someone. He got up and shuffled off to find a pen and paper. When he found them, he went back to his room to get the clock that hung on his wall. Even if he didn't survive, at least there would be some record of what happened to him.

Once he got that, he placed the paper on the face of the clock and shakily began to write.

"To whomever finds this, my name is Nicholas Martinez. Someone is trying to kill me, and as I might not have much time left, I feel I should tell you how this all began, so no one else will make the same mistakes again...."

.oOo.

Bzzzzzz, bzzzzzz, bzzzzzz!

The harsh buzz of the alarm clock sounded in his ear, jolting Nicholas Martinez out of slumber and into the waking world. He slammed his palm down on the snooze button and promtly rolled back over, reluctant to leave the REM state so soon.

"Nick!" his mother called from the kitchen downstairs, "Wake up already, you're going to miss your first day back to school."

"It's Saturday," he called back. He liked school as much as the next kid, (which, admittedly, wasn't that much when you think about it), but the only things that really made it worthwhile were his friends and sports.

"But don't you have a track and feild meet today?" Valencia Martinez asked her son.

Suddenly, things were in a whole other ballpark, (pardon the pun). Nick was on the track and feild team, and the entire week and been rained out, resulting in the cancellation of most, (if not all), school related activities. However, since the rain had stopped yesterday, all sports had been rescheduled for that weekend.

"Be down in a minute," he said, rushing thorough his morning routine as fast as he could. Eventually, he thundered down the stairs and into the kitchen, his sports close gleaming white. They would no longer be white by the end of the day, but that didn't matter. He was meeting Max and Nudge so they could walk to school together, and he wouldn't miss that for the world.

"Slow down, Mr. Fangalator," Dr. Martinez chuckled, "you eat any faster and you're likely to burst."

"Mom," Nick groaned, "please stop calling me 'Fangalator'."

"But I thought you liked it."

"Yeah, when I was five. I'm thirteen now. If you call me anything, just stick to plain old 'Fang'."

"OK," his mom sigh. Then, with a playful tone in her voice, she said, "'Plain Old Fang'."

Nick was about to argue that that wasn't what he meant when he heard the doorbell chime.

"I'll get it!" he shouted, practically flying out of his seat and racing towards the front door. He flung the door open, only to look at the startled, mocha face of Nudge.

"*huff* Hi there, *huff*, Nudge," he panted.

"Oh, Hi Nick! Why are you so out of breath? Were you just exercising? Oh, I bet you were doing push-ups, weren't you? Or maybe you were doing jumping jacks, or deep knee bends, or-"

"If I tell you," Nick interrupted, still slightly short of breath, "will you stop talking?" Nudge was slightly taken aback at this, but shrugged it off when she realized he wasn't trying to be hurtful by it.

"Mm-hm," she nodded, and waited for him to speak.

"I ran from the kitchen to get the door," he said. Then he looked around, "Where's Max, didn't she come with you?" Nudge shook her head.

"She said to meet her at the old covered bridge," she explained, shrugging, "I don't know what she wants."

"Well then, we'd better go see what she wants then," Nick said matter-of-factly, stepping out the door.

"Nicholas!" his mother called before he even got three feet. He turned around and saw coming out of the kitchen, holding his backpack. "Something tells me you might need this."

"Thanks mom."

"And by the way, I should be gone before you get back, so no wild parities."

"Thanks mom," Nick said again, exasperating.

"And Brigid is bringing over some food later-"

"Mom!"

"OK, you kids get along, now."

* * *

"So what did your mom mean about not being home later?" Nudge asked after they had walked a ways.

"Oh, she's going to this doctors convention down in California," Nick said.

"You're from California, aren't you?" Nick had originally lived in northern California until five months ago, when his mother decided on a change of pace. They had moved up to the small, out-of-the-way town of Patterson, Oregon, and his mother took a job at the local hospital. "Like, Hollywood and all that?"

"Actually not like that," Nick corrected. "I didn't live anywhere near the big cities like Hollywood or San Deigo. We actually lived closer towards the top of the state." He had expected Nudge to start running her mouth about now, but she stayed silent, content to listen to him talk.

He chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Nudge asked.

"You were so quiet just now," Nick explained, "normally you talk so much you could make Buddha commit hara-kiri."

"Huh?"

"Never mind, forget I said-holy!" He was about to say "anything" when suddenly he felt a sheet of ice water pour over him. When the shock of the event wore off he looked up and saw Max standing atop the bridge holding an empty (and still dripping) bucket.

"Be careful, Nick," she called down, her voice starting to crack with laughter, "they say it's going to be a scorcher, you should really try to stay cool! Ha ha ha!"

"I should have known there was a reason we didn't meet at my house," Nick said, cursing himself for not realizing it sooner and wringing his shirt out.

"That's what you get for getting the penalty game!" Nudge scolded.

"Wait, you knew?!?!" he shouted, surprised at what he heard.

"Yep!"

Nick groaned.

"God must hate me," he said, hanging his head dejectedly. "That's the only this could be happening; someone up there must hate me."

"Aw, don't be such a sourpuss," Max said as she leaped down. "You were the first one to loose all your credit in the poker game yesterday, it was inevitable."

"And that's suppose to make me feel better!?!" he shouted, steam coming out of his ears.

"Awwwwwwwe!" Nudge sighed, her eyes becoming huge and sparkly. "You look sooooooooo cute when you're angry! I'm so taking you home with me!" She was about to drag Nick off when she in turn was dragged away by Max.

"Come on, lovergirl, let's actually let the poor boy get to school first."

"Wait a second," Nick shouted as he followed his friend and her carry-on, (because Nudge did looked rather like a wheeled luggage bag being dragged like that), "this isn't over yet, I want a rematch!"

"Ha!" Max laughed, "and what exactly did you have in mind, Fangalator?"

Oh, she did not just go there.

"The Guys vs. Girls game," he said, inwardly seething in anger. The memory of the time his mother called him that in front of the entire Games Club fresh and painfully in the front of his mind, "they always have one on days like this. If the girl's team looses, all of you will be my servants for the rest of the day and do anything and everything I say."

"And if the girls win, then those same conditions apply to you," Max said evilly, stretching out her hand to seal the deal.

"Um," Nudge said uncertainly, having recovered from her bout of "cuteness lust", "is this really such a good-"

"Deal!" Nick said as he reached out and firmly shook her hand.

"And may the best team win!"

* * *

The Games Club wasn't actually an official school club, (just some of the girls from school), but Nick didn't care. He just loved to spend free period goofing off and playing games with Max and her friends.

Aside from her and Nudge, the only other members (besides himself) were Ella, another underclassman, and Angel, the preacher's daughter. She and Ella were best friends, and were rarely seen apart from each other.

Currently, all these girls were seated at Nick feat, in various attires, waiting to do his bidding.

"Ah," he sighed, crossing his arms behind his head and leaning back in his makeshift throne, "it's good to be king."

"You know," Ella said, scratching at her Goth-kitty outfit they'd borrowed from the Cosplay Club, "I know the guy's team won and everything, but do we really have to wear all these stupid outfits?"

"Ah, ah," Nick scolded, "'Do we have to wear these stupid outfits....'?"

"...Sire," Ella corrected. "Meow!"

"And yes, you all have to wear them. Think of it as...evening out the scoreboard."

"Is this because of the ice water prank earlier?" Max asked. She was wearing a one-piece Speedo that really accentuated her shapely figure.

"No, but that is a small part of it."

"Was it the laxative brownies?" Angel asked, fidgeting her French maid costume.

"Actually, this is really the first time in forever that I've had the chance to get back at you guys, and I'm gonna enjoy it to the fullest!" He leaned back and closed his eyes, pretending to rest. "Now go get me a soda, maid!"

"Yes, your Majesty," she said, bowing, and went to get her master his soda.

"Did we all really have to do this together?" Nudge pleaded, tugging at her Egyptian choker. She also wore a Greek toga, and her hair was pulled back in a high pony-tail. The effect was exotic and actually quite striking. "It was Max who dumped the water on you after all."

_"Thanks a lot, traitor,"_ Max mumbled, trying to slink away somewhere where she wouldn't be noticed.

"You were in on it too," he pointed out, "And I'm sure you all planed it together. Besides, what are the chances of me humiliating you girls all at once ever again?"

"He does have a point," Angel said, coming back with the soda.

"What!?!" Max exclaimed. "Are you serious? Nick," she turned to the king, a murderous scowl on her face, "I am going get you back sooooo bad for this!"

"That's 'Your Majesty'," he reminded her, "and if you keep me from winning the next game, you're welcome to try." He had a huge, smug grin on his face, which he aimed right at his Olympic entourage girl.

She glared daggers at him.

"But since I'm in such a good mood, and because I'm such a nice guy, you guys can stop when I decided to go home."

"Here, here!" they all cheered.

"And," he added, "I'll treat you all to some ice-cream tomorrow."

"Yay!" they all shouted, jumping up and down.

"But," he said, waving his finger, "there's still a few thing to be done first." He hopped down from his throne and headed out the door. His harem reluctantly followed him.

When they were finally outside they stopped in front of the dunk tank that had been used at the school fair two weeks ago.

"They said I could use it if I put it away afterwards."

"Um," Nudge stammered, voicing the question that was on everyones mind, "who's getting dunked?"

"Why, Max is, of course," he said, motioning for Max to take her place on the pedestal. "Don't worry," he said, "I'm a terrible shot." She seemed to calm down at this, but still took her time getting into position.

"And don't forget to put all this away!," Nick shouted, slamming the target with his fist and sending Max into the pool of icey, 37 degree revenge.

KER-SPLASH!  
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_Well, how did I do? I tried to keep everyone in character for both series, and I think I did rather well. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, so don't be shy about using the review button._

_Some notes about this chapter._

_1. "Patterson, Oregon." - This is a fictional town I created as the setting for this story. Patterson's sister town will also be fictional. (It's also an homage to the brilliant writer of the Max Ride series, Jimmy Patts!)_

_2. "hara-kiri" - Suicide._

_If you didn't already notice, I'm loosely following the story lines of the "Onikakushi" and "Watanagashi" Higurashi arcs, as well as random others from the series. If you want to read up on Higurashi (presumably to better understand this story) then head over to , they have all the Higurashi manga up to the latest Japanese releases. (If anyone from OneManga reads this, I just gave you guys such a huge plug.) Don't worry, everything's in English._


	3. Garbage and Food

_Layman here, bringing you the next chapter of Higurashi; Angel's Wings! By now, some of the Watanagashi arc storyline is seeping through, so expect some Romantic Comedy stuff. Don't worry, no Lemon.  
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The next day everyone was heading down the main street of Glennbrook, the sister town to Patterson. They were all laughing and generally having a good time, and they were all wearing normal clothes.

Well, except for Nick.

He was wearing a pink, low cut vest and a way-to-short mini-skirt over his normal clothes, and red, faux Prada shoes with three inch heels. He had on a really fake looking blonde wig, (with tons of ribbons, bows, and clips), and his face was covered in make-up, most of it hastily applied. In short, he looked like a miniature transvestite.

Curse his over-competitive nature for getting him into all these crazy situations.

"You know, why don't we agree to a truce?" he said, his voice saturated with defeat. "I think we've embarrassed each other enough this month."

"Wuss!" Max called back. "If you can't stand the heat, stay away from the Maxter!" Then she turned back to him and gave him the mother of all raspberries.

"I knew it," he muttered, slumping to his knees, "God must actually hate me."

"That's not true," Angel said, patting his head gently, "If God really didn't love you, then we probably wouldn't have met." She then knelt down next to him and gave him a hug.

"Thanks Angel," he said, returning her hug with a quick one of his own, "I needed that." Angel beemed, looking just like...well...like an angel.

"Awwwwwwwwe!" Nudge squeed, her eyes becoming huge and sparkly. "Caring Nick is sooooooo cute! I'm so taking him home with me!" She grabbed on to the vest he was wearing, but frowned in confusion a minute later when she realized that Nick wasn't in it anymore.

"What just happened?" Angel asked.

"Um, I think our fish just slipped the net," Ella said, staring blankly at the now empty vest.

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Max shouted, dropping into a runner's stance. She then exploded forward and gave chase to Nick, who, by now, was already at least a full block away.

The three girls left in the dust just stared at the now receding dots that were Nicholas and Max.

"Hey," Ella asked, breaking the stunned silence, "Nudge, could I have my vest back now?"

* * *

'Ha,' Nick thought, 'I finally lost her. Good thing that bathroom I ducked into had a back window.' While in said bathroom, he'd made sure to loose his drag and clean off the make-up. Now he was, admittedly, kind of lost. In his haste to loose his pursuer he had conveniently forgotten to remember his route.

'Now...,' he thought, 'which way back?'

For about an hour he wandered around aimlessly, unable to get his bearings. He was so concerned about finding his way back that he failed to notice the random pedestrian directly in his path.

They inevitably collided, exclamations of "Oof!" and "Oh!" escaped their mouths as their backsides became acquainted with the sidewalk.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry, It's completely my fault and-" He stopped short, his eyes catching up to his mouth.

Before him was a girl about his own age, maybe slightly older. She had on much the same attire as he had before, only the skirt was longer, and the vest was exchanged for an orange sweater. She had shining blonde hair, and a face to match.

In fact, for all intents and purposes, she looked almost exactly like....

"Max?" The girl looked at him suspiciously, but then recognition washed over her face and she smiled.

"Almost," she said, picking herself up, "I'm Maxine. Max is my little sister." Her eyes poured over him, scanning for something. "You know, you're just like Maxie said you would be."

"Huh?" he said, confused and slightly frightened. After all, he was just running for his life from her.

"It's OK," she said flirtatiously, "I won't bite." Now he was really confused; Max would never talk like this, least of all to him. Yet she looked and sounded exactly like is classmate.

He decided to test it.

"What would you say if I said the words 'dunk tank'?" he blurted out.

Now it was her turn to look confused.

"I don't know, I've never really thought about it before. Why?"

Nick breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank God you're not mad anymore," he said, mostly to himself.

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, nothing." Finally able to breathe easy, he did a double take of the girl before him. "Wow Max, you really clean up nice."

"Thanks you," she said, blushing, "but I told you my name is Maxine, not Max."

"Right," Nick said reassuringly. If Max wanted to play dress-up, he wasn't one to argue.

"By the way," she said flirtatiously, her hand tracing along down his chest "what did you say your name was again?"

"F-f-f-f-n-n-Nick," he stammered, suddenly uncomfortable at his classmate's advances.

"Well then, Fnick, why don't walk to the ice-cream parlor together?" She hooked her arm around his and began to lead him away.

Well, he headed there anyways....

"So, did you loose a bet?"

"What?" he exclaimed, confused.

"You've still got a bit of mascara on your eye," she chuckled, reaching into her purse and pulling out a wipe. "It was the 'drag queen' bit, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," he sighed, wiping off the remaining mascara. "Third time this month I've had to do it, too." He shook his head, "Maybe they have a drag fetish or something." Max(ine?) giggled.

"That does sound like something my sister would do," she agreed. "It always was her favorite form of humiliating others."

"And she always goes out of her way to make cracks about my, *ahem*, manhood."

Maxine giggled more.

During their walk, Nick layed out all the tribulations he faced at the hands of the Games Club, and in return, Maxine told hin all about Max before met her, incuding some juicy secrets about her he was sooooooo going to get her back with one of these days. Maxine was beginning to grow on him.

In fact, Maxine was extremely pleasant to talk to; he'd opened up more with her in the last half hour than he had with the rest of the people in his life, even his parents.

Why Max wasn't like this all the time he couldn't fathom.

They eventually got to the ice-cream parlor. Nick looked in the window and saw that everyone was already inside, lost in their frozen, confectionery treats.

"Oh," Maxine exclaimed in surprise, "would you excuse me for a second, I just need to call my uncle and tell him where I am." She started to blush with embarrassment, "I kind of wasn't suppose to leave the restaurant."

"Sure," Nick mumbled, still staring through the glass. He couldn't quite see past the old-fashioned, high-backed booths, but he was sure there were only three people who looked suspiciously like his friends sitting in one. Still fixated on the booth, he opened the door and headed inside. A muted chime sounded as he did.

"Oh, Hi Nick!" Ella called, waving him over to their booth. "We got tired of waiting for you, so we went ahead and ordered," she said as he sat down.

"I saved a cone for you," Nudge said, handing him a plain Vanilla cone. When he saw the floats and sundaes everyone else was having, his seemed rather dinky.

"While I appreciate your...generous consideration, why can't I just have that one?" He pointed to an uneaten banana split in front of an apparently empty spot.

"Because that one's Max's," Angel said.

"That can't be right," Nick shook his head, "Max was just with me outside."

"No, she's been here with us for over an hour," Ella corrected. "She just headed to the Ladies Room a few minutes ago."

"But then, who was," Nick stammered, before he was cut off by-

"Who was what?"

Max.

"Max!?!" Nick exclaimed. "But...I thought...weren't you just...?"

"What are you babbling about?" she asked, knocking on his head. "Did you inhale some of the make-up fumes or something?" He was about to argue his point when he realized Max had suddenly gone pale. He followed her gaze and saw Maxine had entered the establishment, apparently phone call concluded.

Wait, two Maxes?

"Maxine? What are you doing here?" Max exclaimed, flabergasted.

"I was walking Fnick here, why?"

"Well, for starters, aren't you suppose to be at The Grill? Working."

"Uncle Davis said I cold take my break now. That was him on the phone," Maxine said to "Fnick".

"So, you guys are twins?" Nich asked, his brain catching up to his eyes.

"Well, duuuuuh!" Max said. "What was your first clue?"

"Well," Nick said, stroking his chin, "how about the fact that I've been here for months and I've NEVER EVEN HEARD ABOUT HER!?!?!"

"You haven't?!" Nudge, Ella, and Angel exclaimed.

"Everybody here knows about the Rides," Ella explained. "Their family owns most of the land around this area."

"Really?"

"Mm-hm," Maxine nodded, "since about the early 1800's.

"Most of the land around the mountains belonged to the local Indians, until settlers came and drove them off."

"But not before they took the women for themselves," Max added.

"In fact, most of the people here are descendants of those settlers."

"Even me," Nudge said, raising her hand. "Escaped slaves."

"As fascinating as this all is, it still doesn't explain why I've never heard mention of your sister," Nick pressed.

"I mostly live with our grandmother here in Glennbrook, plus I have a job at the family diner, so I don't really get to visit Patterson that often."

"And when she does come she's always a big pain in the butt," Max said as she nudged her sister in the elbow.

"I am not!" Maxine whined.

"Are too!" Max shot back, now giving her sister a noogie.

"Um, Nick?" Angel said, trying to call the boy's attention away from the ensuing "Family despute".

"Huh, what is it?"

"Your ice-cream's melting."

Nick looked down at his cone and realized that the ice-cream was already half gone, even though he hadn't had a bite.

"Aw man!" He tilted his head towards the ceiling, "Why, did I do something terrible in a past life or what?!"

Everyone giggled at this.

"Is he always like this?" Maxine asked to no one imparticular.

"Somethimes he's worse," Angel answered, "that's why we never let him near sharp objects."

"Oh come on," Nick blurted out, snapping out of his funk, "I've never been that depressed."

"What about last month when we had our Ultimate Games Marathon?" Ella reminded him.

"I thought we agreed never to speak of that again?" Nick hissed through gritted teeth.

"As fun as all this is," Maxine suddenly interrupted, breaking the vicious spiral events were heading for, "I really should be heading back to The Grill." She paused, considering something. "I know, why don't you all come by The Grill tomorrow for the Starvation!"

"That sound's knid of counterproductive for a place that sells food," Nick noted.

Oh, it's not like it sounds at all," Maxine amended. "It's a tradition of ours we do before the End of Summer Festival. It's basically a test to see how long people can go without eating. It works like this...." and she began to recite the rules.

"You [the participant] enter the restaurant at exactly at 10:30 a.m. and you pick a seat. This will be your seat for the duration of the contest. You may leave your seat to use the restrooms, but if you leave the restaurant you will be immediately disqualified.

"You may have up to six people in your group, and you will each be given a free meal (consisting of an entire, main course, and dessert) and complementary drinks for the day. You may order more food, but you will have to pay for it and it will be counted as a point against your team If your team looses enough point then they will be disqualified.

"At precicly 4:30 p.m. the contest will end. The team with the most points left or the one who refrained from eating anything other than what was provided for them will be declared the winner and recive $500 and a pair of premium tickets for the Dragoon 7 simulcast event."

"You've been practicing that alot, haven't you Sis?" Max sweatdropped.

Maxine nodded. "Unlce's been making all the waitstaff memorize it to pitch to the costumers." Then her face lit up, "I'e got an idea, why don't you guys come by tomorrow and do it?"

Everyone vigorously shook their heads yes, but not Nick. He was off in his own world, sitting front row at the Dragoon 7 seven simulcast concert, decked out in band T-shirts and hats and carrying as much merchandise as he could fit in his arms.

He couldn't help it, they were his favorite alternative/punk band.

"NICK!" Max shouted, snapping him out of his fantasy. "Are you coming tomorrow or not?"

"What? Oh, sure! Yeah, wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Are you sure?" Max pressed. "Because you can't just say you're coming and then not show up."

"I'll be there, OK? Cross my heart and all that." Max's eyes narrowed and she made the "I'm watching you" gesture.

"I'll hold you to that," she said ominously. Having made sure all of them would participate in the Starvation tomorrow, Max dropped her scary demeanor and a huge grin spread across her face. "In the mean time, let's finish our ice-cream, shall we?" Everyone heartily agreed to this, and in a few minutes everyone wore a satisfied, contented smile on their faces. Even Nick.

Until he saw the bill. Then he undeniably, unequivically knew, that someone up there really had it in for him.

* * *

"Thanks again for paying your own way for the ice-cream," Nick told Nudge later that day as they walked back through Patterson, "even though everyone else didn't." Nick stared at his empty wallet and sighed heavily.

"It was no trouble, seriously," Nudge said. "I mean, we did kind of go a little overboard with the ice-cream we ordered, and Max was mind of mean making you wear all those girl clothes, though you were really cute in them, and I think the skirt really brought out your eyes, even though the barrets were totally not your style, but that might have just been because of the-Mmmmmph!"

"I get the picute," Nick said, his hand over his friend's mouth, preventing it from running any further.

"Sorry," she said once she could speak again, "and thank you for helping me with this."

"Right. So, what are we doing again?" Nick asked, still unsure of what exactly he had been recruited for.

"I need you to help me dig something out of the junkyard," Nudge said, completely straightfaced and sincere.

"The...junkyard?"

"Mm-hm," she nodded cheerfully, "I always find the cutest things there. Though sometimes they're buried kind of deep, so I can't always get them."

"And you want me to help you dig some of these things out," Nick said, "right?"

"Actually, it's just one thing," she said as they arived at a small hill overlooking a veritable sea of junk. "I found it last week, but there wasn't anyone around then." She began to slide down the hill and traverse the junk sea. Nick followed suite and was soon walking beside his friend again.

"So what exactly did you find here the other day?" he asked.

"Oh, it was this really cute statue of Colonel Sanders!"

"Colonel Sanders? You mean like KFC?"

"Yep. He was burried down kind of far, so I couldn't dig him out when I found him. I figured maybe with two people we might be able to get to him."

Her logic seemed sound (or as sound as her logic ever gets), so he shrugged and follow her, content just to help.

When they reached the spot a moment later, Nick saw why Nudge needed help. While the old plastic statue was buried that far down, all the junk on top of it appeared to criss-cross in and out of each other in every conceivable way. How it had done so in an way that one could look into the middle of it would forever be a mystery.

"It doesn't look too bad," Nick said, carefully studying the pile of junk.

"You think?" Nudge asked, looking as if she were doing her own analysis.

"Sure, maybe of we just...," he mumbled, climbing into the hole and trying to push pieces of junk out of the way. After a while (and many false starts and a few minor cuts later) he climbed back out of the hole and slumped down on an old seat cushion, exhausted.

"You know what?" he breathed, "I think I might have miscalculated how hard that would be. Maybe if we had a crowbar or something to break up the trash with...."

"Oh," cried Nudge, "I have just the thing! Wait right there, I'll be right back." She leaped over the remains of an old sofa and disappeared out of sight.

While he waited for Nudge to get back he decided to take a look around the immediate area, just to keep his mind occupied. He rummaged through an adjoining trash heap and found a bundle of of old newspapers.

They were mostly tabloids, old issues of more popular magazines, and a bunch of local paper. Nick decided to look through these, considering he knew almost nothing about this town from before he got there.

Most of the papers at least four years old, but there were a few more recent ones. He decided to chance it and grabbed one of the older ones. His eyes were immediately drawn to the title on the front page.

"Protesters turn violent; Lynch mob murders forman and project lead, bodies found mutilated."

Nick shuddered, no one had ever told him about this. To be fair, he'd only asked about the town history a few time, but even then an event as big as that should have come up.

While he was thinking about this he heard some junk clatter behind him. He turned to look, bun immediately wished he didn't.

Above him, holding a huge cleaver with a nasty looking barb on the front, was the silhouette of Nudge.

_To be continued.  
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_Layman here, how did you like chapter two? I continue to enjoy writing this and will hopefully have another chapter up soon. There might be a slight wait between chapters though, as I am also writing a Maximum Ride/Stargate Atlantis crossover. Check that one out too, there have been some good things said about it._

_Next time...the Starvation is underway, and Nick meets a wildlife photographer with a odd intrest in the bloody past of the town._

_Notes: In this chapter we see me pay homage to the other person responsible for giving me this idea, Ryukishi07! (It roughly translates to "Dragoon" or "Dragon knight") On a different note, think off the music of Dragoon 07 as sounding slightly like that of Linkin Park, only more like the remixes from their album "Reanimation"._


	4. A meal of honor

_Layman here, bringing you chapter three. Let's see what hijinx the Games Club get into today, shall we?_  
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Nick screamed. A short, startled scream, but a scream non-the-less. The last thing he was expecting was his classmate and best friend standing over him with a wicked looking weapon just apearing out of the blue like that.

What he just read beforehand didn't help matters.

"Oh!" Nudge cried, herself startled at Nick's outburst. She lost her footing and began to slide awkwardly down the junk slope.

Nick recovered just in time to notice the girl slam right into him. Simlutanios exclaimations of "Oof!" as they collided.

"Nick, I'm so sorry! I totally didn't mean to scare you, or fall on top of you for that matter. It was just that you kind of scared me when you screamed like that and my foot slipped on some garbage and I couldn't regain my balance and-"

"Nudge!" Nick shouted. Then he realized how he must have sounded and changed his tone, "It's all right, I know you didn't mean to fall on me."

Click!

Out of nowhere a flash of light blinded the two incapacitated teens. Nick jolted up, inadvertantly knocking Nudge to the ground as he did so.

"All right, who did that!?!" he called, rubbing his eyes.

"Sorry," a voice said off to his right. His vision was still blurry from the flash, but he could just make out the outline of a man, possibly holding something in front of him. "I guess I forgot turn down the flash since last time."

As his vision cleared Nick could see a man about 23, with strawberry-blonde hair and a red baseball cap, holding an expensive looking camera, (complete with huge lense and flash).

"It's just that you two make such a cute couple juat now...."

"We're not a couple," Nick said, perhaps a bit too deffensively.

"It's true," Nudge agreed, "it was completely an accident. I slipped on some garbage, and...."

"All right, I get it," the man said, understanding. "Though that explains the noise I heard...." He held his hand out, "Jeffery Fujitaka, at your service."

"Wait," Nick said, "haven't I seen you before?"

"You might have." A weird frown crept onto his face, "Acutally, I think I've seen you around town myself." He snapped his fingers, "The hospital, right?"

"Yeah," Nick agreed, "you're always hanging out with nurse chick my mom's friends with."

"Mm-hm, Brigid Dwyer. I always stop by to see her whenever I pass through here. We've been dating for about three years now."

"You two are dating? That is sooooooo sweet!" Nudge sighed.

"Yeah," Jeff chuckled. "But anyways, sorry about the photo. Normally my subjects are too busy preening thenselves or feeding their young to care.

"I'm a wildlife photographer. I take pictures of animals," he explained when he saw the teens looking confused.

"So what were you photographing?" Nick asked.

"A couple of wild foxes," he said, "only something, (I'm guessing it must have been you two), scared them off before I could get a good shot." He raised his eyebrow and asked, "So, what are you guys doing here?"

It was only then that Nudge remembered the giant cleaver she was still holding.

"Um, uh," she stammered, hiding the knife behind her back, "we were trying get Colonel Sanders out of the garbage."

"Huh?"

"Long story," Nick said, "don't ask."

"Oh, as long as it wasn't another lynching like the one four years ago."

Wait, what did he just say? Didn't he say he'd only been frequenting the town for about three years?

"How do you know about that?" Nudge asked.

"It was all over the state news when it happened," Jeff said. "In fact, when they found one of the guys in charge, they said his body was torn into six peices." He leaned forward and whispered, "They still haven't found one of the arms yet."

This sent both teens into shivers.

"Anyways," he said, his voice cheery again, "you might want to wait until tomorrow to rescue the Colonel; it'll be dark soon, and a lot of unfriendly animals will probably start wandering around here. Trust me."

As he walked off, Nick and Nudge just looked at each other and decided that they should wait until later to get the Colonel Sanders statue.

I mean, could you after hearing that?

* * *

The next day Nick made sure to get up bright and early to get ready for the Starvation the The Grill. By 9:30 he'd eaten a light breakfast and was already out the door and on his bike, headed over to the next town. He made it to ten minutes to spare; his friends were already outside waiting for him.

Everyone but Max.

"I can't believe it!" Nick shouted angrily. "Leave it to Max to come down with a head cold after she gave me the whole "Come, or else" speech." He folded his arms in a pout, "This is so like her."

"Oh, come on, Nick," Ella said, "you totally didn't help this anyways with that dunk tank stunt you pulled the other day."

"It's not like she got sick on purpose," Angel said, patting Nick's back reasuringly. "She wanted to come just as much as any of us."

"You're probably right," Nick sighed, "as usual."

"Attention everyone!" a waitress said from entrance. She was wearing a white blowse that was tied around her waist (with most of the buttons open to show her ample cleavage, I might add), a miniskirt that could probably pass for a hand towel if it were any shorter, and shiny black knee-high boots that looked like they came from Hot Topic. On top of that her hair was let down and it was sticking out from under an orange baseball cap with The Grill's logo on it.

This place made Hooters look like McDonalds.

"I'm sure by now you've all heard the rules, but there are a few things that we'd like to make clear.

"Firstly, anyone who leaves The Grill will be immediately disqualified from the Starvation. No exceptions!

"Secondly, each person only gets one complimentary meal. If you feel you have to eat more, be ready to pay.

"Lastly," she said, opening the door behind her, "have fun!" She stepped out of the way as the crowd (including our four intrepid heroes) surged forward. Within minutes every seat or booth in the restaraunt was filled, groups of every concievable mixture of people (most of whom Nick didn't recognize) filling them.

"Whoa," he breathed, "I knew this was going to be a big deal, but I've never even seen half of these people around Patterson, let alone this town."

"Oh, the Starvation is really popular," Ella explained. "people from all over the state come every year. It's like a state event!"

"Though they can be jerks sometimes," Nudge said. As if on cue they heard a Slap! coming from a table a few booths down from them. A second later a waitress, looking rather pissed off, walked by in a huff, muttering something about "idiots" and "jerks" and "renegotiating her contract". "See what I mean?"

"Hi there," an extremely familiar sounding voice next to them said, "do you all know what you want?"

Everyone turn around to see Maxine standing there, order pad in hand and wearing the incredibly revealing outfit all the other waitresses were wearing.

The girls all said "hi" in cheerful, perky voices, and Nudge cooed and sighed about how she would take her home, but Nick couldn't get past the outfit. At least, not until Angel shook him out of it.

"Ah! Pork and beans!" he burted out, his mind snapping back to reality.

Ella, Angel, Nudge, and Maxine all sweatdropped.

"Sorry, hi there," he said, managing to save himself some face.

"Hi yourself," Maxine said back. She looked around the resturaunt, "Where's Max? I thought she coming with you guys today."

"She wasn't feeling well," Ella explained. "She called and said she came down with a bad head cold."

"That's too bad," Maxine said, sounding dissapointed, "I know she would have loved to be here with you guys. If she were here now, I'm sure she'd tell you to keep going, even if she wasn't here."

"You're right," Nick agreed, "Even if she wasn't here she'd still want us do our best and hold nothing back. For Max!"

"For Max!" the table echoed. Things were off to a good start.

After they ordered their food they mostly sat and talked. The conversation ranged from speculation about what Max was doing at home, to how everyone was going to spend their share of the prize money, to keeping Nudge rom taking home every cute waitress that passed by.

By 3 o'clock only about half of the seats in the diner remained occupied, their occupants either gone of their own volition or were disqualified.

The Games Club was among the remaining.

"How are you guys doing?" Maxine asked.

"We're kind of hungry," Nick answered, "but it's nothing we cant handle." He attempted a smile but was distracted when he saw her wince and rub her butt. "You OK?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, not sounding all that convincing, "these guys over at that table there pinched my butt a little too hard, I guess." She pointed to a table were a quartet of dunk looking guys were giving each other high-fives. Or in some cases, attempting.

"They did that?" Nudge asked.

"Why didn't you tell them of or something?" Nick demanded.

"Well, the waitstaff isn't allowed to influance anyone to leave before the contest is over. Uncle told us anyone who did that would get their pay docked for the rest of the week."

"But-?"

"I have to go check on the other tables, see you!" As she huried off to check the tables, Nick shuffled uneasily in his seat.

"Ugh, why do people have to be such jerks!" He pinched the bridge of his nose, then stood up. "I need to use the restroom," he said, heading off in that direction.

He didn't get very far, however, as he overheard the converation going on at the table of jerkwads.

"So how was it?" one of the men asked eagerly. Nick didn't hear a reply persay, but the whistle that followed told him otherwise. "Dude...."

"I know. But get this, when she comes back with our drinks...." Nick couldn't hear what was said, but he knew it couldn't be anything good. His suspicions were confirmed by the many rounds of high fives that followed.

Nick couldn't hold it any longer. Blame it on the way he was raised, but his personal sense of chivalry wouldn't let him stand by as one of his friends was harrased by a bunch of stupid drunks.

"Hey faggots," he said, maybe a little louder than planned, "why don't you go take your useless asses outta here and go screw yourselves!"

"F*** off, kiddie," one of the drunks slurred, "this ain't got nothing to do with you."

"I does when one of then girls you're harrasing is my friend!" His fists were balled up now.

"I said f*** off, kid. I'm way out of your league."

"Really?" Nick asked. "That's what Bubba said he told you in prison."

Whuff!

Nick doubled over in pain, clutching his stomach where he was kneed.

As he crawled back to the table his mind was racing with idea how best to get revenge.

"Oh my god, Nick, what happened?" Nudge exclaimed as Nick slithered into his seat.

"One of the guys over there beat me up," he explained. This provoked startled gasps for his friends.

"That's terrible," Ella remarked, "why did they do that?"

"I tried to tell them off for harrasing Maxine." He rubbed his stomach, "I might have been a little too forward."

"Poor, Maxine," Angel said, "what should we do?"

"Funny you should ask that," Nick chuckled through the pain, drawing the girls in closer to inform them of his new plan....

* * *

(fifteen minutes later...)

"OK, everybody ready?" Nick asked. The girls each nodded affemative. That's good. Ella, you made sure to-"

"Already done," Ella said with a devious smile.

"Perfect, now we just have to wait for-Oops, here she comes. Angel, get into possition! Nudge, do your thing."

"Aye aye, Captain!" Nudge saluted, heading off to intercept her unknowing waitress friend.

At the table in question, the drunks were getting ready to put their own perverted plan into action. Maxine was headed back with an order of food (another waitress had brought drinks before hand) and she was trying very hard not to spill any of it.

The plan was to trip the young waitress just right as she walked by so she would end up landing in one if the guys' pants. The "Reciever" was incredibly excited about the plan and had already started to unzip his pants.

Before any of that could happen, however, a young, dark skinned rushed past them and grabbed the waitress by the arm, almost causing her to drop her tray. The mocha skinned girl babbled on about some "big problem" or something and dragged the waitress over to her table, placing the food on their table as she passed by.

They scowled at their plan falling apart like that, then sat back and hursed their drinks. Maybe they's have better luck with the next waitress that came by.

"Howdy, faggots!" Nick said, walking up with a soda in his hands.

"I though we told you to f*** off, kid," the lead drunk slurred. "Or are you just a glutton for punishment?"

"Actually," Nick said as he uncapped his soda, "I came by to appologize. I might have been a bit too...well...let's just say I was out of line to say those things to you. Truce?" He held out his hand in a gesture of peace.

The inebriated group of men were flabbergasted. They should stangle this kid for talking to them like that. Thankfully, they were too drunk to care the hell either way, so they returned the handshake.

"No hard feelings, *hic*, right kid?"

"You betcha!" They release hands and Nick wipes his brow. "Man, is it hot in here or what?" He brings the soda bottle above his mouth and lets it pour in.

Slowly.

As the drunks watch this they suddenly feel a great urge to answer the call of nature.

"Ah!" he sighed when he was done, "That was refreshing! But I'm still a bit thirsty." He reached over the table and grabbed a undrunk glass of water. "You don't mind, do you?" he asked before slowly sipping from the glass, which was glistening with condensation.

"Aw crap, I really gotta piss," one of them said, jumping up shuffling off to the restrooms.

"Not before I do," another said, and the rest followed him.

However, they failed to notice the "Out of order" sign that hung on the door of the men's room until they were right next to it.

"F***Dammit! This always happens when I eat out," the leader cursed, trying not to soil his pants.

"Dude," another guy said, "let's just use the girl's room."

That was a brilliant idea. Not giving it a second thought, the men burst into the adjoining door and began to loosen their belts.

That is, until they saw the small, blonde girl opening a stall door.

She let out a startled yelp when she saw the men and slammed the door shut again.

"Man, I didn't think there'd be anyone else in here."

"And you didn't think of that before you suggested this?!" the leader shouted, slapping the man upside the head. "Idiot!"

"Um, little girl?" one of the other drunks asked through the stall door. "We're not going to hurt you or anything, we just really need to take a crap before we explode. OK?"

Angel opened the door a crack and poked her head out.

"But this is the Girl's Room, you can't be in here."

"But we really, really need to go. Please?"

Angel rubbed her chin, considering.

"You can't use this bathroom," the men's spirits fell.

"Dammit!"

"But I can take you to one you can use." This was met with cheers and whoops of gratitude. "C'mon, follow me."

Seeing as how each of them was beginning to reach the limits of his stamina, they followed her wothout question. That is, until they all reached the door.

"Hey guys," Nick said, waving. Behind him were Nudge, Ella, and Maxine. "Going somewhere?"

"Yeah, somewhere where I can piss, now get outta da way kid," the leader said, pushing past Nick and heading outside. The others followed suit.

"Fine with me," Nick said, holding up his hands and letting them past. When they were outside, he added, "I couldn't care less wether or not you guy want to forfit your claim on the grand prize."

A more colorful barage of language that would make sailors and convicts blush was never heard.

"Yeah that's right, you can't take the heat, stay away from the Fangalator!"

"'Fangalator'?" Ella asked as they went back into the resturaunt.

"Oh, I said that out loud?" Nick was feeling a bit sheepish right now.

"Yeah," Ella nodded. Nudge was nodding yes as well.

"I'll tell you about it later, and if you give Max any way to use it against me, you're dead. Right now, the important thing is that those dip-wads shouldn't be bothering Maxine here anymore." He walked over and put his arm around her shoulder.

Maxine was flabergasted.

"You- you did all that just for me?" she pointed to herself. "I...don't know what to say."

"How about thanks?" Nudge suggested sweetly.

"OK then, thank you!"

"You're welcome," Nick said. Suddenly, a thought occured him, "Say, where's Angel taking those guys?"

"I don't know," Nudge shrugged, "she never told me."

* * *

"How much further is this craproom?" By now Angel had led them well into the woods.

With no sign of stopping.

"Just a little bit further."

* * *

_OK then, it looks like Angel might be a bit late to the festivities later._

_Oh, I didn't tell you about that? Well, tune in next chapter to find out about the End of Summer festival and the dark secret behind it. (I will try to get it up sooner than this one. I promise.)_


	5. On the night of the fair

_Layman here, coming to you live from the Patterson, Or. End of Summer festival! (My equivelant of the Watanagashi.) This is where the spook factor begins to pick up a little, so get ready to start losing sleep!  
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Later that day, everyone had moved over to the church yard to start the End of Summer festival in earnest. Most of the town had been up since dawn preparing all the stands, and a few had even started the night before. By now, though, everything was long since finished, and the people were enjoying all their hard work.

Five in particular might have been enjoying it more than the others. But why not? They were still kids, and kids should enjoy themselves.

"God must hate me."

"Aw, what's the matter this time, Nick?" Angel asked.

"What's the matter is that our team was disqualified from winning the tickets because Ella had to sneak desserts from the kitchen!"

"What!?" Ella exclaimed indignantly. "They were for those jerks that were harassing Maxine, and we all knew they weren't staying for them anyway."

"But they were tickets for Dragoon07! Do you know how exclusive those are!?!"

"Don't feel bad," Maxine comforted, "you probably would have won if not for that."

"Great," Nick sighed, "now I KNOW I could have been there instead of here."

"Hey, what's wrong with here!?" everyone shouted.

"N-nothing," Nick, said, picking himself up. He then mumbled, "Except for the fact that I don't have those tickets."

"Will you get over it already?" a voice said behind him. he spun around and saw Max, looking just as fit and energetic as ever. "I mean, seriously, stop being such a pansy crybaby about it."

"Max? I thought you were home sick?"

"Which shows just how much you really know about me," she retorted. "Did you really think I'd let a stupid head cold keep me from this little shindig?"

"I guess not...," Nick mused, remembering the time she'd showed up to soccer practice with a sprained ankle.

"Well then that settles it, now let's go win games and get drunk!"

"But we're underage," Angel pointed out.

"Irrelevant!" Max rebutted. "Now come on, I wanna-"

"Actually," Maxine interrupted, "I promised to help out with one of the other booths. You guys go on without me, I'll try to catch up later." She waved a final goodbye and then disappeared around a corner.

"You think she'll be back for the performance later?" Nudge wondered a'loud.

"What performance?" Nick asked.

"I'm in a play about the history of the town," Angel explained. "Most of the church is involved too."

"Wow, it sounds really cool. I hope you do good in it."

"Nick!" Ella chastised, "You're suppose to say break a leg!"

"It's alright," Angel said, "I know he meant well." She patted Nick on the head. "Besides, the show doesn't start for a while, so let's go have some fun!"

Everyone agreed this was a good idea.

So for the next two hours everyone had the time of their lives; carnival games, fair food, stupid walk-in attractions, nothing was off limits. Eventually though, Angel had to go get ready for the play and Nudge and Ella went to go find good seats, leaving Nick and Max own their own.

"So," Nick began awkwardly, "no more cold, huh?"

"Yeah," Max answered with an equal measure of awkwardness, "I guess so.... Did you guys have fun at the Starvation?"

"We had a blast. In fact, some of us couldn't even hold it in." Nick rip snorted at his own private joke.

"Huh?" Max said, cocking her head to the side.

"Oh yeah," Nick said, "I forgot you weren't there," so he preceded to relate everything that had happen to their group earlier that day. Eventually, they were both rolling on the ground laughing.

"Wow," Max gasped between fits of laughter, "I can't believe you guys had so much fun without me! If I'd been there, I would've kicked their sorry asses all the way up to Washington and back. Twice!"

"Now that I would have paid money to see," Nick chuckled, rolling over onto his back. Incidentally, he found himself lying right next to Max. For a moment they just stared at each other, not bothering to say anything. In the silence, she noticed his deep, soulful eyes, and he noticed her full, delicious looking lips. He noticed the shimmer of her hair, and she noticed the little tuft of his that was always artfully out of place, etc.

"Maximum Ride!" They were both startled out of their dreamy stupor by an imposing, weathered voice. They both looked up to see a woman of about seventy with tanned skin, grey locks, and eyes that looked like they could pierce right through the soul.

"Oh, h-hi Abuela," Max stammered, awkwardly jumping to her feet.

"You two weren't doing anything, 'inappropriate', were you?" Abuela Ride asked, jumping straight to the point. Nick went rigid with fright at this.

"Not at all," Max continued to stammer, "I don't think we were even touching-"

"Oh, I know you weren't, but that's not why I came over here." Suddenly, her expression softened and a smile bloomed on her face, "I was wondering if you'd do an old lady a favor and sit with her for the performance?"

"Sure," Max sighed in relief, "not a problem." She turned to Nick, "I should probably get going now. See you later, Nick!" She gave him a friendly punch on the should and then headed towards the chapel with her grandmother.

By the time Nick recovered from that Oh!-so-frightening question, the Ride women were well out of earshot, and nearly out of sight.

"You too, Maxine!" he shouted after her. He then facepalmed himself when he realized what he just said. "Idiot," he muttered to himself, "why did you just call her 'Maxine'? At least nobody heard that."

"Heard what?" a voice asked from behind him. Nick whirled around and saw that it was Maxine who had spoken. "I was on my way to find you anyways when I heard you call my name."

"How much did you hear?" Nick asked nervously.

"Just that last bit about nobody hearing something. What did you mean by that anyways?"

"Nothing!" Nick said a bit too defensively. He blushed, "It was nothing important," he amended. "You said you were looking for me?"

"Yeah," she said excitedly, "come on, there's something really cool I want to show you!" She grabbed his arm and dragged him past the chapel building.

"Hey! Not so hard!" Nick wailed. "I've only got those two arms! Where are you taking me anyways?"

"Ah ah ah," Maxine scolded, "it'll ruin the surprise." She smiled sweetly, but Nick could tell there was a hint of smugness in it. She dragged him farther until they had lost site of the church in the trees.

"Come on Maxine, where are you taking me? I promised to watch Angel in the play thingy."

"Fine, I'll tell you; it's this little shed they keep stuff from the church in. They built it, like, forever ago, back when this town was first established, I think."

"What do they keep in it?"

"I don't know, no-one has even been allowed inside except for the Pastor's family. Oh here it is."

They burst out of the woods into a small clearing, and in the clearing was a small, run down wooden shack. By the door of the shack were-

"Jeff Fujitaka and Brigid Dwyer?"

"Oh, I see you found us," Jeff said sheepishly, turning to greet the newcomers.

"I thought you kids were at the play," Brigid asked, "what are you doing here?"

"I was going to show Nick the shed here," Maxine explained, "but we can come back when you guys are done."

"Don't be silly," Brigid said, waving her hand dismissively, "we were trying to get in as well, so we might as well do it together. The more the merrier I always say!"

"I've almost got the lock open anyways," Jeff added when neither of the kids said anything.

A few seconds later the lock clicked and the door slowly creaked open.

"You guys go on in," Jeff said, leaning back against the shed wall, "I'll stay out here and be lookout."

"You sure?" Nick asked. "Because it looks like there's more than enough room inside for-"

"Just shut up and come inside, will you?" Maxine said, dragging Nick inside by the arm.

When he was inside Brigid closed the door, leaving only a small crack so it wouldn't accidentally lock them in. Then she switched on the lamp she was holding and the room was bathed in light.

"Whoa," Nick breathed, staring at ancient tools that littered the walls. Some were clearly form the twenty-first century, but most were much, much older, and in various states of disrepair. In the soft light, Nick walked up to a hoe type tool and ran his hand over it. It was a tad more ornate than the others, with Native American caricatures painted on it.

"Like it?" Brigid said, jerking Nick's rapt attention away from the ancient tool. "I'm pretty sure that piece is almost 200 years old."

"That's about when the town was founded," Maxine gasped, amazed that the nurse knew such a fact.

"Oh, I've done my fair share of research," she said, answering the unanswered question in Maxine's mind. She was grinning softly, "The history of old towns like this one is kind of a light hobby of mine."

"Really?" asked Nick. "What else do you know?" He stared at the floor sheepishly, "I still don't really know a lot about this place, despite the fact that I've been here for months now."

"Well," Brigid said mysteriously, "you at least know the Legend of O-yasama's Curse, right?" Nick shook his head.

"What!" Maxine exclaimed. "No-one's told you about that yet? It like, one of most infamous and well known stories about this town, I can't believe you haven't heard about it yet."

"Hmm," Nick said, "I guess not."

"Wanna hear about it now?" Brigid raised her eyebrow suggestively, beckoning the two youths to sit and listen.

Nick and Maxine looked at eachother, an unspoken conversation running through their heads. They nodded in agreement, and chose a spot on the aging floor that each thought looked the most comfortable.

"The Legend of O-yasama's Curse," Brigid began chillingly, "starts just after the Lewis & Clark expedition. Before then, people didn't know how far America spread. With the boundaries clearly defined, people began to move out West in droves.

"One such family, the Rides, lead one of the more ambitious groups of settlers all the way to the Oregon territory. Of course there was hardship and of course not everyone made it, but the story really gets interesting once they get there."

"After they met the local Indians."

While Maxine had heard this story before, it never ceased hold her rapt with excitement. She would have been more excited, however, if there wasn't that eerie creaking sound going on. Whatever it was, it did wonders for the atmosphere. She rarely felt this scared, even on good days. It was both terrifying and exciting at the same time.

"At first they all lived in a mutual peace, but the settlers (under the excuse of Manifest Destiny) got greedy and began to push the Indians away. Many of the settlers even went so far as to steal the women away in the dead of night.

"Then one night, a lone figure strode through the center of the American settlement. He disappeared by morning, leaving no clue he was there aside from the fifteen dead bodies he strung up in the middle of town."

Both Nick and Maxine gasped in spite of themselves.

"That same morning three of the Indians came and told the settlers that it was the spirit O-yasama that they saw, and that it was punishment for taking their sacred land. Before they left, they told the settlers that a sacrifice must be made every year to appease him so he wouldn't slaughter then townsfolk anymore.

"Anyways, that's what most of these tools are for; the ritual sacrifice that's suppose to happen on the last day of summer."

Creeeeeeeeeak!

"AHHHHH!" the two youths exclaimed. They whirled around in fright, only to see Jeff standing, or rather kneeling, in the doorway.

"Sorry to scare you guys," he apologised, "I was listening to the story and I guess I must have leaned against the door too hard.

"By the way, every seems to be coming out of the church, we should probably get back if we don't want people to worry."

Nick and Maxine looked at eachother in confusion, then pushed back from eachother aggressively, not realizing they'd been holding on to eachother in their fright.

"Yeah," Maxine agreed, picking herself up and dusting off her skirt, "we should probably get back soon."  
____________________________________________________________

The next day was just like any other day; the sun was out, the birds were singing, and the kids playing out behind the school. On the surface, it hardly looked like anything could be wrong.

Unless, of course, you happened to read the paper.

"'O-yasama's Curse strikes again!'," Nick read, the headlines of the local paper jumping straight at him, "'Late last night the body of nurse Brigid Dwyer was found mauled ten miles out of town. The head appeared to be bashed in with some type of heavy bladed weapon, and her left hand was pierced with twenty-five rusty nails. It is as of yet unknown whether her companion, (alias) Jeff Fujitaka, has suffered a similar fate.'

"'Continued on page 7A'."  
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_Whoa, that was dark, was it not? And it only gets darker from here on. The next chapter should be up in about a month, so be patient._


	6. Accusations

_From hear one the story will be taking a darker tone. And for those of you who care, I am trying to make all of this tie in with the first chapter. In fact, it might just happen a little in this chapter. Now, as a great philosopher once said, "Hold onto your butts...."  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

O-yasama's Curse'? No, it could be true. It was just an old legend. It's just a publicity stunt the paper's playing. Somebody just when to far with a practical joke.

At least, that's what Nick kept telling himself on the way to school that Monday morning.

He walked in a daze, still trying to take in what he read in the paper. Jeff and Brigid were dead? No, only Brigid was dead, Jeff was still missing. But what had happened to her? The paper didn't say anything about the identity of the attacker, or if the police even had any leads to begin with.

It was just too much to take in.

BLOOPBLOOP!

Nick practically jumped out of his skin. He whirled around and saw a late model police cruiser just behind him on the road, it's lights flashing.

"Hey kid," the officer called, "come here for a minute, will ya?"

"Why?" Nick blurted out defensively.

"Whoa, take it easy," the cop said, sticking his head out then window, "You haven't done anything wrong, I just want to ask you a couple of questions."

Reluctantly, Nick shuffled towards the car.

"Oh, Sorry about the scare, but it seemed like the fastest way to get your attention. Name's Sergeant Jab Batcheldler by the way." He held out hand, "Police detective," beckoning Nick to shake it. Nick didn't oblige.

"Could you just ask your questions," he said, coldly, "I'd rather not be late to school." Nick couldn't tell why, but there was just something about this cop that didn't sit right with him.

"*sigh*, I guess," Jeb said reluctantly. He leaned over and opened the passenger-side door, "Hop in, I'll give you a ride to school."

As Nick got inside the police car, he immediately felt an overwhelming urge to get out again. The inside was actually rather clean, and except for the stray candy wrapper or half-eaten bag of chips lying around, not even a donut in sight.

"How about some air conditioning?" Jeb offered, flipping a switch next to the radio, "it's rather hot out today."

Nick stared at him icily.

"So then, to business, huh?"

Nick shrugged, "Fine by me."

"Very well," Jeb said, his voice changing from casual to professional, "I'll get straight to the point; How much do you know about the Rides?"

The question caught Nick off guard. "'How much did he know about the Ride family?'"

"Why do you ask?"

"Mostly because it helps if I don't have to waste too much rime explaining everything to you," he said. "I am working on a time constraint, you know."

"Well," Nick began, "I know that they helped found this place way back when, and I'm pretty good friends with the twins, Max and Maxine."

"And did you also know that Max is slated to take over as head of the family soon?"

"'Take over as head'? You mean like the Mafia?" Nick chuckled. He waited for Detective Batchelder to join in on his little joke.

He never did.

"You're serious?" Nick's voice started to squeak.

"They practically own this town," Jeb said. "But that isn't why I wanted to talk to you. What can you tell me about your friends?"

"Which friends?"

"Those four girls you hang out with all the time, is have you noticed anything odd about them?"

Nick snorted and looked at the detective incredulously, "Have you met those guys? I don't think they could be any odder if they tried."

"I meant have you notice anything suspicious about them," Jeb amended.

Nick thought about it for a minute.

"I guess not, not outside of this game we all play."

"Well, would you tell me if they do?"

"You mean spy on them?!" Nick exclaimed.

"To put bluntly, yes."

"But they're my friends," Nick persisted.

"Look," Jeb placated, "I'm not asking you to follow them everywhere they go, (thought it would be amazing if you actually did), or accusing them of grand larceny or anything like that, just keep an eye on them when you're together. Particularly the older girls."

"Why?"

"Well, Max and her sister are both Rides, and that girl, (Nudge, right?), isn't really all that stable."

"Wait, what do you mean Nudge isn't stable? Sure, she can be a little goofy at time and she gets easily distracted a lot, but 'unstable'? What exactly do you mean by that, Detective?"

"I'll tell you later," the enigmatic policeman said. "School starts in a few minutes, doesn't it? You said it yourself you didn't want to be late."

Nick turned and saw that they were parked right outside the school. He got out of the car and began to head into school when Jeb called to him again.

"Hey, I'll be down at the Grill later. Come by and see me if you have the chance." Then he drove off. Nick then went inside and made his way to class.

Whatever was going on, he was really sure he wasn't going to like it.  
___________________________________________________________

Nick walked into the classroom and plopped down at his desk, the things Detective Batchelder weighing heavily on his mind. He just could believe that his friends could ever be up to anything bad.

Mischievous perhaps, but never illegal.

Right?

Eventually the bell rang and all the other kids found their way to their seats. Nick noticed Max and Nudge sitting a few seats away from his, near the back of the class. It looked like they were whispering about something.

He saw Angel sitting closer to the front, patiently waiting for the teacher to begin their lesson today. He noticed she looked a bit more down than usual.

He looked at Ella's usual seat and thought he knew why Angel looked so downtrodden; Ella wasn't sitting there. For that matter she wasn't sitting anywhere he could see. Maybe she got sick or something. He'd have to ask the girls about that after class.  
____________________________________________________________

When recess came he gathered up Max, Nudge, and Angel and asked them if they knew where Ella was.

There answers weren't promising.

"Huh???? What do you mean none of you know where she is?"

"It's just like we said, none of us have seen her since yesterday," Max explained.

"Come on, at least Angel has to seen her; those two practically stick to eachother like glue."

"Sorry, no," Angel sighed. "I haven't seen her since after the fair; since we don't live in the same house together we have to take different routes to get home. We split up a few minutes after we left."

"Even the teacher hasn't heard anything from her," Max said, "not even a call to say she wasn't coming."

"Man, this sucks," Nick said, "where could she have gone?" It was so unlike Ella to miss out on anything. Usually she was one first people to arrive places, even if she didn't want to come.

"I think I know what happened to her," Nudge said, her voice strangely low.

"Nudge...," Max warned.

"Really?" Nick persisted. "Well, tell us then."

"She was taken," Nudge said darkly, "spirited away by the curse of O-yasama."

"Nudge!" Max snapped suddenly. By the look on her face it was clear that she thought Nudge had said too much. Then, in a much calmer voice, she said, "Maybe you should let me handle this."

And then Nudge just nodded and walked away.

"Angel?" Max asked, turning to the third member of their party. "Would you mind giving Nick and I some time alone, please?"

"Sure!" she said cheerily, and went after Nudge. Probably to try and console her or something.

"Max," Nick asked warrily, "is there something you guys aren't telling me?" Max turned back to Nick.

She sighed.

"Actually, yes, there is something that we've never told you."

"About Nudge?" Max nodded.

"It's just that she seems to take this Curse business rather personally ever since that incident at her old school."

"You mean she didn't always come here?" Nick asked, surprised.

"Yeah, she used to live elsewhere for a while until a few months before you got here. Montana, I think."

"And that's where the 'Incident' happened?"

"Mm-hm. I don't know all the details, but for some reason or other she got expelled from the school she went to up there and moved back here. And ever since then the Curse has always been a touchy subject for her."

"Wow..." was all Nick was able to think of. "So, no Curse around her, got it." He looked her square in the face eyebrow raised, "Now, what did you really want to tell me? As helpful as that was, I could tell you sounded nervous, so spill." Nick crossed his arms and waited.

Max looked bashful for a moment, but then her face steeled up and she stared straight at him. Then she grabbed his face, pulled it close to hers, and kissed him full on.

At first Nick was stunned, (After all, why would a girl as hot as Max be kissing him?!), be after a moment his hormones kicked in and he began to kiss her back.

She actually tasted good, too. Her lips were just so soft, and they tasted kind of fruity as well. All in all, they tasted just like heaven.

As the kiss dragged on they both began to feel lightheaded, and they had to break apart to each catch their breath. They both collapsed in each other's shoulders.

"Nick," Max breathed, "can I ask you a question?"

Nick just grunted an affirmative, as his lungs hadn't caught up to his heart yet.

"Where were you during the play the other night?"

That was a weird question to ask. So weird, (and so disturbingly close to home), that he had to pull back and take a good look at his friend.

She looked about the same as before, albeit a little flushed in the cheeks. However, there was something about her eyes, something he couldn't quite pinpoint.

"What do you mean 'where was I'?" Nick asked shakily, "I was there."

"It's a simple enough question," Max explained, a strange, monotone quality in her voice, "were you there or not?"

"Of course I was there."

"Oh, really?"

"Sure," Nick lied, knowing full well he wasn't there, "I sat in the back."

"Really? I didn't see you there."

"Well, you know," he stammered, "I was sitting behind some tall people."

"Are you sure?" she sounded coy now.

"Of course I am," he persisted, "what's with the third degree all of a sudden?"

"No reason, just making sure..." she let the last sentence hang and sauntered out of the room.

Nick was left perplexed as to why Max had sudden started acting like that; kissing him and then interrogating him about his whereabouts at the Festival. Sure, he'd been lying through his teeth about where he was, but was it really that bad? After all, it's not like he really touched anything in that shed, did he?

And Max's eyes....

He still could put his finger on it, but something about her eyes just seemed...off. They were too piercing, too...'demonic' was the word that came to mind.

"And don't forget," Max said in a sing-song voice, poking her head back through the door, "Club's back on tomorrow!" She paused and noticed Nick was sprawled on the floor. "You OK?" she asked, sounding genuinly concerned.

"Yeah," Nick panted, "you scared me just now, is all."

"Yeah, I did, didn't I?"

"Thanks," he deadpanned, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "I'm so comforted."

Max chuckled, and in a moment she was gone again.

Nick sighed, a long, drawn out, exhausted sigh. Life was just getting too complicated.

And there seemed to be only one person who could help him make any sense of it.  
___________________________________________________________

_Ok, now things are starting to get really, really strange; how will it all turn out? Well, you might have to wait a while, because I'm breifly putting this story on Hiatus so I can concentrate on another one I'm writing at the moment._


	7. The Atempt

**_Sorry it took so long, but here it is...Chapter 6! Also know as Nick starting to really realize the gravity of the situation he's in. __**

Nick walked through the doors of The Grill at about 6:45, so there were already a lot of people there. Half of him was almost glad for that fact, because it would give him an excuse not to talk to Jeb (since he was impossible to find in the mob of people). Unfortunately, his overwhelming desire to know the truth won out in the end and he made his way towards Jeb's waving hand.

"OK, I'm here, Jeb," he said as took a seat opposite the detective. "Tell me what the hell's going on."

"It's good to see you too," Jeb said, ignoring Nick's bluntness. "Care for something to drink?"

Nick just sat there, glowering at him.

"Yeah," Jeb sighed, "that's what I thought." He reached into his jacket and pulled out some papers, tossing them in front of Nick, "I think the Rides are connected to the O-yasama killings."

Nick was speachless.

"Actually," Jeb continued, "I have a sneaking suspicion that your friend Nudge might be involved as well, but I want to focus on the Ride girls first."

"What about them?"

"For starters, there's the fact that Max is suppose to take over the family once she comes of age. Actually, I'm more suspicious of her than of Maxine."

"Why's that?" Nick asked.

"Because for most of her life, Maxine lived at some high-end private school on the east coast. She only came back here recently, so there's virtually no chance of her being connected to any of the murders."

Nick breathed a small sigh of relief; he really liked Maxine, and he was glad she wasn't a suspect.

That still left Max, however.

"Max on the other hand," Jeb continued, "has been living here all her life. That, coupled with what little we know about her family makes her much more likely a suspect."

Nick still looked uneasy. After all, he'd know Max for months know; she just didn't seem like the type of person who would kill someone.

"Still don't believe me?" Jeb said, picking up on Nick's unease. "Then let me ask you this; where did Max go after the play last night?"

"How should I know? I didn't see her again until this morning."

"Nobody has, and that's what worries me." Jeb furrowed his brow, "The same goes for Nudge."

Nick let out a resigned sigh, "How does Nudge fit into all this?"

"I'm not exactly sure," Jeb explained, "but the fact tah she and Max disappear around the same time is suspicious in and of itself, and the incident in Montana doesn't help much either."

"What incident?" Nick asked. He knew Nudge had lived in Montana for a while, but he'd always thought nothing much of it. This was also the first time he heard anything about what happened when she was there, too.

"It happened at the school she was attending," Jeb explained. "According to what I've managed to learn, she was always rather shy and didn't like the school very much.

"One night, she snuck inside the school and just started smashing the windows. She must have used a bat or something because they found one was missing from the sports equipment the next day. She was also barefoot, and some of the broken glass got stuck in her feet.

"Nobody could think of a reason why she would do this or what the trigger was, if there even was one. Even the psychiatrist they brought in couldn't ind anything out. Apearently, she just kept saying 'the curse, the curse' over and over. Eventually, her father brought her back here to Patterson and she got better almost immediately."

For a while Nick just sat there, his mind trying to wrap itself around what it just learned. Nudge had always been a little quirlky, he knew, but this just bordered on clinical insanity.

"So why are you telling me all this?" he asked finally.

"Well, partially because you're so close to them," he admitted sheepishly. Then he became serious again, "and because I trust you; I'm sure you don't want these killings to go any more than I do.

"All I'm asking is for you to keep an eye on them and tell me if they do anything else suspicious." He held out his hand and this time Nick shook back. Like it or not, he was now in for the long haul.

Whether that was a good thing or a bad thing still remained to be seen.

_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

When he finally got back home Nick had gone straight for the living room sofa and plopped right down on it, flicking on the television as he did so. After all, he'd already had enough drama for one day concerning his friends. He'd worry about it tomorrow.

At least two hours later (judging by the amount of prime time TV he watched), the doorbell rang.

"Be right there!" he called absently, tuning the TV off.

Again the doorbell rang.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming!" Jerk, he thought. Who in their right mind comes by at nine in the eve-

The thought stopped when he saw who was at the door.

"Hi Nick!" both Nudge and Max said in perfect stereo.

"Hey Max, Nudge," Nick said, genuinely surprised to see his friends here. "What are you two doing out so late?"

"We made some food for you," Nudge stated eagerly handing him the Tupperware she was holding, "you know, since your mom is away right now, and you've probably been eating nothing but cereal and TV dinners, which I guess wouldn't be too bad now that I think about it, since they make some really good cereal nowadays, though the TV dinners still taste like cardboard, and-Mmmphh!"

"What Motormouth here means is," Max said, her hand over Nudge's mouth, "we knew you were completely inept on your own, so we took pity on you and made you something ourselves." Max grinned smugly.

"Thanks," Nick said wryly, "your confidence in me is overwhelming." About three seconds later, his brain actually processed what they said. "Wait, you two made this, together?"

"Uh huh," Max nodded, "and you have to eat every bite. Consider it an official Club event."

"And try to guess which one I made!" Nudge said, her mouth now freed.

"Sure," Nick said warily, using every last bit of willpower not to upchuck right then and there. As much as he loved Max, she was easily the worst cook in the entire history of the world. She'd ACTUALLY burned water once, legitimately. "I'll try my best."

"And there's going to be a penalty if you don't eat them," Max said as she turned to leave, a mischeivous glint in her eye.

"Wait, your not going to tell me what it is?"

"Nope, so it could be anything at all." She waved back at him, "Kind of gives you something to think about if you decide you 'not hungry' tonight."

Nick wasn't quite sure, be he could swear he heard her chuckle as she walked off.

"Don't worry about her," Nudge consoled him, "I'll make sure your punishment won't be too bad."

"Eh, for what it's worth, thanks." He was about close the door when Nudge stuck out her hand, stopping it.

"Nick," she said, her voice strangely distant, "can I ask you a question?"

"Uh, OK."

"Why didn't you go to the play at the festival?"

"Of course I went," Nick stammered, reiterating the same lie he told Max earlier, "I was in the back. Why on earth would you ask that?"

"Oh," she said non-chalantly, "I've just been thinking lately..." She let her sentence hang.

"What have you been thinking about?" Nick asked hesitantly.

"Nothing much, just how friends don't keep secrets form each other." She stared right into Nick's eyes. "You're not keeping any secrets from us, are you Nick?" she asked, her voice laced with honey.

"Absolutely not," Nick said, "why would I?"

"I don't know," Nudge persisted, "why would you?"

"I'm not, OK? What's with the third degree all of a sudden?"

For about a minute or so Nudge continued to stare into Nicks eyes, unwavering for even a second. Eventually something must have satisfied her, because she suddenly giggled and started backing away.

"I'm sorry, was I doing that? Silly me! I didn't mean to get so serious all of a sudden, really! I don't even remember what I was talking about anyways; it could have been shoes, or politics, or celebrity gossip, or even bugs. You know? Like how the cicadas are really loud at night. I mean, do they really have to be so loud when people are trying to put their kids down to sleep? If only they would-"

"Nudge, it's fine," Nick interupted before they both ended up standing there until the sun rose. "You should probably get back home before the molesters come out." He added an "Oooooooh!" for extra emphasis.

"D-d-don't say that!" Nudge stuttered, "You know I get scared easily at night."

"Whatever you say. Anyways, thanks again for the food." Waving a final goodbye, he closed the door and brought the food into the kitchen.

After a few minutes he let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding.

What the hell was that all about? he thought. Is everyone around here going crazy or something?

Putting if off as simple (and unwarranted) paranoia, he suddenly realized how hungry he felt. He pulled the lid of the opaque Tupperware and eye the contents. There were six large meatballs, and he could instantly tell which ones Max made.

Here's a hint; they weren't the ones that looked edible.

Well, this should be difficult, Nick thought wryly. Then his stomach rumbled. Eh, they'll still be edible cold, he rationalized before grabbing one that was clearly Nudge's and took a large bite out of it.

He immediately doubled over in pain; a sharp pain lanced through the inside of his mouth.

What the hell? he thought as he spat the half-chewed food out. He reached around in his mouth and soon pulled out the culprit.

In his hand was bloody sewing needle.

Someone was definitely trying to kill him.

**_Yeah, this update is way to long coming. For that, I wholeheartedly apologise. I've just been reading a bunch of new fics and working in another story of mine that I just haven't had the time to work on this. Fortunately, finishing up the Anime and watching the live action movie helped put me more in the writing spirit for both stories, so that's why you got this chapter._**

**_That said, it does take longer than normal to wrote the chapters for this story than the other one, so go shop around a while until this on gets updated again._**


	8. ANNOUNCEMENT

Hello dear readers, its the Layman speaking to you. Unfortunately though its to bring you some rather dissapointing news.

OK, here goes; about a week or two ago the hard drive on my computer absolutely crashed, drestroying all documents that I hadn't posted yet. In short, most of my ongoing stories are now indeffinately suspended until such time that I feel the muse strike me to write for them again.

Pretty much the only one of my stories I'll be continuing (and this is becasue only one half-finished chapter for it was lost) is my Bleach fanfic "Cold Fuzz". Along with that I'm writing something for a good author friend of mine, Alex McMullen; I'll also try to be reconstructing that.

Anyways, I'm immensely sorry to all of you following my other stories; no one is more distraut over their suspension than me, and I hope to eventually return to them and continue their (mis)adventures. (Though I wouldn't hold your breath for that to happen soon.)

Most sincere apollogies, The Layman.


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